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Time is Short

Posted on Monday, July 22, 2024
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by AMAC, Robert B. Charles
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21 Comments
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Recently, life events reinforced a truth we all know, but seldom ponder: Time is short.  This is not a plea to worry more or speed up, but actually the reverse. Best understood, finite time amounts to an invitation to slow life down, visit people, see beauty, make every second count … really count.

In one sense, the biblical injunction to use time well, recognizing “for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) is a prod to accept time’s finite nature, but also to maximize each season, seeing what that season seeks, means, and requires.

Just as seasons come in order, they also recur, which means we may be invited to experience them in some singular way, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, but also to revisit them as God allows. Our seasons include “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and time to dance…”

In one sense, our lives are about continuity, those who are part of our lives, and of whose lives we are a part, but in another, they are about the absence of continuity, the ever-changing, and thus exhilarating and also passing nature of time, which asks us to appreciate what changes.

The old Greek philosopher Plutarch borrowed wisdom from an earlier Greek named Heraclitus when he observed that “It is not possible to step into the same river twice.” The river remains the river, but the one you step into today is not the same as tomorrow’s or yesterday’s.

So what does that definition of time, its passage, and originality in every second, minute, and day mean? In simple terms, at least for me, it means using each day well, spending that day, every part of it, in ways that slow the passage of time with appreciation of people, places, purpose, and beauty.

Expanding on that idea, what is the best use of time, of any given day? How do we maximize time, understand its precious nature, and not mourn its passing but celebrate the new day, time being short?

Like the dual nature of many things, the way a circle’s beginning and end are the same, the answer to that question is – on one hand – the same for all of us, and on the other, utterly different. We should treat each day with a kind of reverence, glad for it, happy in it, just because it is and we are.

On the other hand, how we do that will differ. Some will awake after a good sleep, have coffee, watch birds out the window, putter over a project, perhaps arrange and paint flowers, rearrange and paint them again, write down a few thoughts, enjoy a call from family, and sleep fulfilled.

Others will find purpose in reading, reading some more, lacing up and hiking, biking, skiing, maybe building, or just daydreaming, perhaps caring for animals, the ill, children, spouse, or a friend. And then, on another day, roles may reverse, a painter now a hiker, beachcomber, caregiver, daydreamer.

The point is that to make time matter, to give each second play, each hour purpose, and each day its due; to stretch each of them fully, to magnify or amplify moments within them, we must enjoy them. And for each of us, that enjoyment is a matter of choice, resolve, and difference.

The seminal fact: While time passes, each day is original, by our choice spent in happiness or misery, the celebration of life or missing the chance, taking in the sea’s curl, the smell of sea salt, an eagle in the pines, heron’s flight and feathered head, coffee, and fresh bread, perhaps a sunset, or not.

Time is short, but how we play those cards, how we love the game, how we meet each day, and the joy we claim, is up to us. The more we fill our days with people we love, making new discoveries and friends, giving, creating, reflecting, and slowing time with laughter, gratitude, beauty, and play, the more we appreciate God’s gift, and give it to others, lengthening every day. 

How ironic that the best-lived life is not fast but slow, the best way to understand time’s passage is to pause, focus on others, on a sunrise, book, ponder and doze, paint a glad, amaryllis, or rose, call a brother, sister, daughter, son, parent, or friend, maybe quietly compose.

The biggest things are often simple, the best way to seize the day is to seize nothing at all, but the chance to marvel, give, laugh, linger, cook, paint, build, walk, be curious, wonder, ponder, play, and talk. If, in the long arc of time, we are a puff, perhaps Seneca had it right: “Life, if well lived, is long enough.”

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.

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Max
Max
2 months ago

RBC, thanks again for a wonderful, insightful article. The Word of GOD does state that our lives in this current world is finite because of sin that started with Adam and Eve in the beginning. GOD also gave us FREE WILL to make choices, good or evil. Then God introduced a new plan to save his children — JESUS CHRIST. Through the Word, NO ONE can enter the KINGDOM of HEAVEN for ETERNITY unless they accept JESUS into their hearts. Only GOD KNOWS the CONDITION of ONE’s HEART.
Start your day with GOD, invite HIM and JESUS into your daily life and you will be surprised with HIS RESPONSE.

Kim
Kim
2 months ago

Many times throughout your article, Mr. Charles, you’ve referred to observing and appreciating nature, making the moment last and making it meaningful. As a close observer of the natural world, and as an eager participant in it from birth, I agree. And I’ll go so far as to say that living outside of nature–in a cubicle in front of screens all day–is unnatural and harmful to our psyche. It has been proven over and over again that cities devoid of greenery lead to depression, aberrant behaviors, higher crime rates, and a feeling of deprivation.

Whether all those individual joys you mentioned are gifts from God or, as I believe, from nature and the reality of being human, they nevertheless have great impact in our lives and on our happiness. People who are dissatisfied with where they are in life should try walking in the woods, planting a tomato or flowers, watching wildlife, contacting someone from the deep past, calling the kids who don’t call us, or just doing something that’s been on the list for decades…and doing it today!

We can’t stop the clock and we should get comfortable with that. We don’t have a choice in the matter! Perhaps we should spend less time watching it and instead fill that time with people, pets, and passions that make us smile, creating great moments and great memories.

Pass the wisdom on to the young, give something away to someone who needs it more than you do, say kind words to the grumpy cashier, be kind and patient when provoked, wave to the guy cutting grass as you drive by his yard. That’s something small, but it struck me–looking at a house to buy in this area, people waved from their gardens as I drove by–me, a total stranger! I thought, “This is the town for me.” Loving where you live is so important; this is the first time I’ve felt fully comfortable in my surroundings, and I’ll never leave. I’ll die a happy person (oh, yes, I’ve had my challenges!), but not quite yet. I just planted the asparagus bed!

Melinda
Melinda
2 months ago

Why does it take until we’re getting old to realize these blessings of life?

Rob citizenship
Rob citizenship
2 months ago

Respect for nature — sure enough has much to do with time , how we schedule all of the things we do, and how time is understood. Growing up in Philadelphia ,in the 1950’s and. 1960’s I considered myself fortunate in many ways — our back yard was about 40 foot by 35 foot — we had a peach tree,a pear tree and an apple tree and about a three foot by four foot tomato garden. The rest of it was covered with a variety of plants and flowers. Mom was an avid gardener. A pine tree in front of the house, that Dad planted one year after it did it’s duty as a Christmas tree. And. a beautiful Maple tree in front of the house between the sidewalk and the street . About half a mile away was park that was home to about fifty deer back then . Half of that park could best be described as. wild forest actually, and. I reckon that had something to do with the deer population going from about fifty to over six hundred by the 1980′ s. So, appreciating things about our neighborhood where we first learned about the various pieces of life that usually made sense, sometimes were a puzzlement , always an adventure to look forward to.That is the spirit , thinking about the numerous gifts from God, and how we should respect this earth , this life ,this time we have. There is much to explore — I do believe that the older someone gets the more understanding there is of what were considered new ideas when younger, but looked at again at different levels, in more detail. Very inspirational article RBC , it is appreciated.

Centurion
Centurion
2 months ago

I am proud to be an AMAC member and appreciative of the fact that AMAC and its authors are not afraid to talk about God.

Leslie Tarlton
Leslie Tarlton
2 months ago

I have lived the abundant life and now 70 years old and sitting in a doctors office wondering where life went. God has given me more days than I deserve, but I still don’t feel my work here If finished, but perhaps time. As a retired theologian I specialize in Old Testament and Hebrew. In Daniel 12 he looks at the end of time asking God when shall the end come. He left us a clue that would not be found until the end. Verse 11 & 12 the verb was translated as future tense into English, but in Hebrew it is past tense. The sacrifice was taken away by Nebuchadnezzar in 601bc. That is the starting date for adding the years mentioned. What was built on the temple mount in 689/690ad that could be considered an abomination that makes all things desolate? Then add the next number.

SAW
SAW
2 months ago

You are “right on” Mr. Charles, right on…

Lover of America and GOD!
Lover of America and GOD!
2 months ago

WONDERFUL ARTICLE! ENJOY AMERICA AND LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST!

Bernadette
Bernadette
2 months ago

We need these reminders in life. Starting w/the Lord is a step into the light.

Danger
Danger
2 months ago

Ask yourself America do you want a man who falls asleep during his son’s speech’s to be asleep during your finest hour?! Lol

Robert Zuccaro
Robert Zuccaro
2 months ago

Like Kamala said: Time is time it’s time it’s your time when you ride on yellow electric school busses to the moon. Cackle cackle.

Veteran John Victorine
Veteran John Victorine
2 months ago

????????????????
Makes Sense to me!

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